Naver's next online dictionary: Spanish

Korea's Naver has recently added a new language to its set of online dictionaries, adding Spanish to the current selection of English, Japanese, Chinese, and French. Naver's dictionaries are slow to be released because they are quite thorough, with plenty of example sentences as well as audio. The Spanish dictionary is here.

The first thing one wonders with a dictionary like this is what type of Spanish? For that, all you need to do is search for a word with an i following a c, or something else that distinguishes European from Latin American Spanish. Well, European except Andalusian Spanish, but that's a different subject.

So let's go with asociación and click the audio button:

"asothiathion" (asoþiaþion?) - yep, it's European Spanish.

Somehow I doubt that European Portuguese will be the standard used when they get around to a Portuguese dictionary.


Let's pick a random word to look at the examples given. We will go with enemigo.

adj. 형용사
1.
(+de) (무엇을, 무엇이) 싫은, 싫어하는
Mi mujer es enemiga de la comida rápida 내 아내는 패스트푸드를 싫어한다
2.
적의, 적대의
ejército enemigo 적군
país enemigo 적국
soldados enemigos 적병
tropas enemigas 적군
3.
(일반적으로) 적의, 적대하는, 상대하는
equipo enemigo 상대 팀

m.f. 양성명사
1.
적
enemigo mortal [encarnizado] 불구대천의 적
enemigo natural 천적
enemigo público 공적
hacerse enemigo de alguien (누구의) 적이 되다, 앙숙이 되다, 철천지원수가 되다
hacerse enemigos 사이가 틀어지다
2.
원수
3.
(+de) (누구의) 반대자, (누가, 무엇이) 싫은 사람

m. 남성명사
1.
(집합명사) 적, 적군, 적국
pasarse al enemigo (도중에 자기편을 배반하고) 적에게 붙다
El enemigo invadió la ciudad fronteriza 적군이 국경 도시를 침입했다
2.
(옛 법률에서) 부모나 사촌 이내의 친척을 죽여 중벌을 받은 남자
3.
악마

como a real de enemigo 적에게 인정사정없이 잔인하게 굴면서, 적에게 되도록 많은 ...
ser alguien enemigo de algo (누가, 무엇을) 싫어하다, (누가, 무엇의) 반대자이다
no haber visto la cara al enemigo 병사가 어떤 전투에도 참가하지 않았다
volver la cara al enemigo los perseguidos (쫓기던 사람이) 쫓던 사람과 기운을 내 싸우다

And on top of that, 214 example sentences including the word enemigo.



Because Naver is so central to Korean online life, this dictionary makes it a perfect starting point for any Korean wanting to learn the language. Not everyone in Korea is aware of Naver's excellent online dictionaries though (it's mostly used for basic searches, subway/bus times, anything else to do with daily life) so it is worth recommending to a Korean friend who is interested in the language.

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Vatican news (News.va) soon to be available in French and Portuguese

From here yesterday in Italian:

News.va, the the site that collects sources of information of the Vatican, will soon be available in Frenche, and in a month in Portuguese. This is in addition to the three languages already available: Italian, English and Spanish.

With this, a year after its birth, the site will have five languages. This was announced to journalists today by Msgr. Claudio Maria Celli, president of the Pontifical Counsil for Social Communications.

According to him, News.va has 8,000 to 10,000 hits a day, with points up to 16,000.

Of the 180 countries that visit the site, 27% are from the US, followed by Europe (Italy, Germany, Spain), Canada, and Brazil. 52% of the total are new visitors, while 47% are frequent visitors who come regularly. Entrance to the site is usually through social networks: 65% come through Facebook, 30% through Twitter.

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Link roundup for 24 January 2012

--- First of all from the department of I told you so: this article on possible cooperation between NASA, Russia and the ESA on moon colonization. Aside from the terrible launch windows to Mars, the fact that the moon is the only area that so-called second-tier spacefaring nations can help to colonize will make it the inevitable choice for first permanent manned colonization. In other words, if the US is not interested in colonizing the moon then it will end up watching other countries do it before it launches its planned Mars flyby in the mid-2030s.


--- Twitter is opening its third office in Europe, this time in Germany. Found about it here in Spanish.

--- The CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) is looking at sending some sort of joint mission to Guinea-Bissau. From here also in Spanish.

--- Xhosa, Zulu being axed at state schools - "Last year, 68455 matrics countrywide wrote Afrikaans as their first additional language, whereas only 10943 wrote Zulu and a mere 1547 wrote Xhosa." Chock full of comments below, as is always the case with articles of this nature.

--- Cape Town's new fully bilingual talk radio.

--- Incoherent party, incoherent candidates. The Economist on the current state of the GOP in the United States.

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Chinese media companies expanding in New York

From here in Portuguese:

Four large Chinese communication companies are expanding their presence in New York, seeking to establish the foundations to begin to compete on the world stage.

Xinhua, one of the major news and propaganda agencies of the Chinese government, moved last year to the top floor of an office building in Broadway with 30 journalists, and installed an 18-metre video screen with its logo in Times Square nearby.

Meanwhile, China Daily, the largest English-language newspaper in China, increased its presence in New York to more than 20 journalists and other employees.

China Central Television, the main state TV agency, plans to hire 62 journalists in the city and in other parts of the US.

A Google Translate version is here, though considering this is the Wall Street Journal there is probably an English version of the same article somewhere.

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Interest in Chinese increasing among businesspeople in Portugal

From here in Portuguese a week ago:

Interest in the Chinese language and culture is greatly increasing in Portugal, particularly among businesspeople, said the dean of the University of Lisbon (António Sampaio da Nóvoa) to the Lusa news agency.

"We are opening intensive courses for businesspeople [because] the demand is impressive." he said when asked about the activity of the Confucius Institute at the UL, established four years ago in partnership with the Tianjin Institute of Foreign Studies.

The Confucius Institute at the UL is the second of its kind in Portugal, after the one established at the University of Minho, in Braga.

About 300 students now attend the Confucius Institute at the UL.

António Sampaio da Nóvoa began on Wednesday a one-week visit to China, accompanied by officials from the UL and the Macau Polytechnic Institute.

The visit coincides with the rapid growth of Portuguese courses in the Chinese continent, a phenomenon associated with the development of economic and commercial relations between China and Portuguese-language countries, particularly Angola and Brazil.

Not counting Macau, a decade ago the who of China only had two universities with degrees in Portuguese; today there are five in Beijing alone.

I would add Portugal to Angola and Brazil now, considering the amount of Chinese investment pouring in at the moment. For example from here:

The acquisition of 21.5 percent of power company Energias de Portugal (EdP) by China Three Gorges (CTG), at the end of last year, was a special moment for business relations and may be followed by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) taking a static in Portugal’s national power grid, Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN).

Also this and this article on more or less the same subject.

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Dawn distance to Ceres now vs. in July when it leaves Vesta

According to Dawn's official website, the distance from Dawn to Ceres is 0.9536 AU, a distance that is slowly decreasing as Vesta begins to catch up to the slower-orbiting Ceres. A closeup of the current position is as follows:

In addition, the current relative speed of Dawn to Ceres is 8.36 km per second. This rate will begin to slow down as the two approach each other, but Dawn will continue to approach Ceres even before it has left Vesta in July.

So what will things look like in July when it leaves? NASA's orbital simulator can show us. Here is the current position of the two:

And in July they will be here:

Perhaps about 0.5 AU by then. This is just a mashing of two images together (NASA's orbital simulator only allows you to see one object at a time) so there is no way to compare the distance of two selected objects with each other, and every computer I've had has had problems with Celestia so I won't be installing it to find out.

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Beijing University of International Business and Economics opens Centre of Portuguese Language Country Studies

From here today in Portuguese:

A ceremony today (16 January) at the University of International Business and Economics
in Beijing marked the inauguration of the Centre of Portuguese Language Country Studies.

The centre is the first non-governmental and non-profit institution in China directed exclusively to academic studies of Portuguese-language studies. The initiative's objective is to promote cooperation between China and Lusophone countries.

With the support of officials, specialists and business people connected to Portuguese-language countries, the centre will attempt to be a think tank for questions and analyses of specific themes.

And a bit from here which mentions Macau:

The aim is to "promote friendship, cooperation and exchange between China and Lusophone countries, with the best support of specialists and scholars from the interior of China and taking advantage of Macau as a platform", the institution announced in a statement.

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Romania now 19th member of European Space Agency, will launch microsatellite next month

I didn't notice this last month but Romania is now the 19th member of the European Space Agency.

Following promulgation of the law on ratification of Romania to the ESA, Romania officially became the 19th member state on 22 December 2011. It is the second former socialist country after Czech Republic to do so. The leadership of the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) will respond to questions from the press on the significance and important provisions of the agreement.


The launch of the Romanian microsatellite GOLIAT will happen with first flight on the European Vega rocket, and is planned for 9 February 2012. The satellite will be integlated with 7 other satellites at the ESA space centre in French Guiana.

How much does Romania pay into the ESA? This pdf should tell us:

La nivelul anului 2011, contribuţia financiară a României în calitate de stat membru este de 5.7 mil Euro reprezentând participarea entităţilor din România la programele obligatorii ale ESA, la care se adaugă plata specială de aderare în valoare de 3.6 mil.

5.7 million euro.

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Macau to act as a currency hub between China and Portuguese language countries

At least I think that's what this means. The sentence in bold is unclear to me - does it mean that a country that buys X amount of Chinese yuan is now able to use that X amount of money to buy bonds and whatnot?

In any case, the fact that Macau is to be China's gateway to the Lusophone world in yet another aspect is the most interesting part for me.

The news is coming soon, says the Monetary Authority of Macau. The Chinese central bank has indicated that it wants to use the local financial sector for conversion into yuan of accounts that Portuguese language countries have.

In November, the People's Bank of China reported that it intended to have Macau as a platform to standardize accounting trade and investment between China and Portuguese language countries.

Beijing currently has established 14 so-called swap agreements for the yuan, with Hong Kong and Macau as the first signatories, as well as other nations in Southwest Asia, Iceland, Argentina and Belarus.

The understandings permit banks and investment agencies of signatory countries and regions to work with the volume of trade in yuan invested in the inter-bank continental market (possam realizar com o volume de trocas em yuan investimento no mercado inter-bancário do Continente). There are currently ten types of securities open to investment from outside, including treasury bonds and others issued by Chinese state banks.

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Le Huffington Post arrives in 4 days

Now we have an exact date for Le Huffington Post: 23 January.

Despite my general dislike for its over-dramatic style, I expect I'll be referring to the one in French very often simply because one thing the Huffington Post is good at doing is TELLING YOU IN BIG FONT WHAT'S IN THE NEWS RIGHT NOW.

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